State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford) called in to Lubbock’s Chad Hasty Show Tuesday and explained why he’s backing District 84 candidate and former State Rep. Jim Landtroop over incumbent State Rep. John Frullo. Although Frullo describes himself as a limited government, free-market defender on the campaign trail, Stickland provided specific examples of Frullo’s willingness to abandon Texans in favor of crony special-interest groups.
Stickland stressed the importance of looking past rhetoric on the “red meat” issues that are tirelessly repeated during campaign season, such as claiming to be “pro-life and pro-guns.” Texans are better served by dissecting how their representatives actually vote while in Austin.
“Frullo voted for every single crony capitalist and anti-free market measure that came up onto the Texas House,” Stickland explained. Specifically noting Frullo’s support of Speaker Straus, his vote for SB 19, which targeted conservative advocacy groups and donors (a measure rejected by a majority of House Republicans), along with his support for unconstitutional retroactive handouts to NASCAR, film, and major event incentives.
Both Empower Texans’ Fiscal Index and the Lib-Con Index published by Rice University’s Mark P. Jones, allow greater context to a legislator’s record using a quantifiable methodology based on record votes. Stickland noted that Frullo’s votes earned him a measly D- on the Empower Texans’ Index, while he was ranked as the 12th most liberal legislator in the Republican Caucus according to Rice University’s non-partisan rankings.
In other words, Frullo’s voting record is more closely aligned with Democratic members than the average House Republican.
The average for the House Republican caucus on the Fiscal Responsibility Index was a 60, while earning an equally dismal 63 according to the Young Conservatives of Texas.
When asked why Stickland, a legislator from Bedford, cares about a primary election in Lubbock, he responded by explaining that Frullo’s votes have taken money out of tax payers pockets across the state, only to be given to corporations hand-picked by Austin insiders. This negatively impacts the entire state’s economy. He noted that constituents in Bedford are impacted just as much by Fullo’s votes, as they are Stickland’s.
“My people are directly impacted by 95% of the votes that John Frullo makes. We have a situation where a politician is campaigning as one thing but then legislating as something else. What I want is truth and honesty,” Stickland reiterated.
“I believe that it’s time, and the folks that I’ve talked to out in West Texas are very conservative folks, and it’s my belief that that is not the way that John Frullo has been legislating while in the Texas House, and I personally look forward to the opportunity to have Jim come down there and do a better job representing the values of West Texas.”
With that said, Stickland believes House District 84’s race to be the most important primary in the Lone Star State.
